Utah District Court
CMECF Updates
Top e Filing Errors
In e-filing experiences to date, the most common errors (and their solutions) are:
Not using the event (menu item) appropriate to the document to be filed.Go to Reports, Menu Listing, and select the appropriate (Civil or Criminal) report. Control-F will open a FIND dialog and you can search for keywords to find the menu item you need.
Not using s-slash to sign a document.
Remember to do it! While physical signatures are not required, the document should be authenticated by the s-slash.Not naming attachments.When documents are attached to filed papers it is VERY helpful to give them a descriptive name. The drop down descriptive box with suggested descriptions is NOT necessary -- a customized description is most useful.Not emailing Word Perfect version of proposed orders to judgesWhile proposed orders should be attached to motions, they must also be sent by email in WordPerfect format to the judge. See Administrative Procedures page 8, Item G. 1.An attorney representing multiple parties chooses only one party when filing a document.It is possible to SHIFT-CLICK to select multiple parties on whose behalf a document is filed.
Hotmail Spam Filters At Work
An attorney recently reported that he was not receiving Notices of Electronic Filing from the court. After much investigation, the attorney reported:
As you may remember, I wasn't getting emails with orders from the court.
It turns out that my ISP was filtering them out--but they told me that they were not!!!
All it took was for me to go onto hotmail and add the utd.uscourts.gov to my SAFE LIST.Note: Attorneys with email accounts at Hotmail, Gmail, Yahoo and other browser based email services may face spam filtering from their internet connection provider (referred to above as an ISP)
and from their email provider. In addition, personal spam blockers may be installed on computers.
Civil Case Documents Must Be E-Filed in 2006
The official announcement has been made -
Electronic Filing in Civil Cases Will Be Mandatory February 1, 2006 for Firms with 20 or More Attorneys and May 1, 2006 for All Other Active and Pro Hac Vice Attorneys. As of February 1, 2006, members of the Court's Bar employed in firms of 20 or more attorneys must electronically file all civil case filings. Effective May 1, 2006, all other members of the Court's Bar, active and pro hac vice, must electronically file all civil case filings.
Training, Registration and Filing Statistics
The court has trained 58
trainers representing 31 law firms and will train 11 more in-house trainers on September 29.
Court training sessions have
trained 152 people, 100 of whom are attorneys. The remainder are support staff. The court will host a training in St. George on October 6. Already over 30 are registered for the St. George training.
393 attorneys are
registered e-filers. About 80% are local attorneys and the remainder
are pro hac vice admittees.
629
documents have been e-filed by attorneys since going live. 80% of these documents are text pdf documents, and 20% are scanned pdf’s (primarily exhibits).
PACER Accounts Top 500,000
According to a
press release from the Administrative Office of the US Courts, there are now more than 500,000 accounts permitting access to Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER), the system though which CM/ECF and other court files are viewed. This benchmark indicates the widespread interest in court information, and the expanding use of electronic media in the courts and legal system generally.
Criminal Case Documents Must Be E-Filed On November 1st
The District of Utah will require criminal case documents to be e-filed as of November 1, 2005.
Training of United States Attorneys and staff, Federal Defenders and staff, and CJA Panel Defense Attorneys and staff is moving forward. The AUSAs working in criminal law and FDs have almost all been trained, and 10
CJA panel members are trained and registered. Criminal case e-filings by counsel have steadily increased through August.
The balance of the CJA panel will be trained in four upcoming sessions specially designed for criminal practice. Retained counsel will be notified of the upcoming mandatory e-filing requirement and may take the training now available to any member of the court's bar.
Training Information is on the court's web site.
CM/ECF Training Set for St. George
CM/ECF Training will be offered for the first time off the Wasatch Front in October, in St. George. Carefully planned to coincide with wonderful fall weather in Southern Utah, the training is coordinated through Krysta Arner, who can be reached at 801-524-6146; e-mail address is krysta_arner@utd.uscourts.gov. Additional materials will be sent to attendees prior to scheduled training.